…and Impotency of the United Nations - As pictures of dead Syrian women and children spread across International media, it begs the question as to the response of the International community. In 1925, the preliminary groundwork for what would eventually become the framework of the Chemical Weapons Convention, or CWC. As of 2010, only seven nations failed to participate under the International mandate that bans the use of chemical weapons. Syria was one of the seven nations that failed to sign the agreement.

So does Syria’s lack of participation in the International ban of chemical weapons exclude the Syrian “regime” from consequence of the use therein? As nations struggle with the legality of military action, a much deeper issue is at stake, humanity.

As we arrive at such a threshold, one must take stock in an axiomatic truth that has existed since the advent of ritualistic burials some 300,000 years ago, or Middle Paleolithic period; life is precious.

Therefore, a coordinated response from the entire International community is required. Justice does not provide for “precision” bombing of key governmental location. Justice demands individuals be rounded up by International ground-forces and face an International tribunal for their actions, as did the Nazi party at Nuremberg. Let there be no mistaking that these latest actions are “crimes against humanity”.

A friend of mine who lived and worked in Damascus, Syria, has recently fled to Lebanon ahead of what she termed and Syrians are calling the “Obama Bombings”. This action, however, does not call for a unilateral U.S. response but an International human response.

So as the United Nations continues to languish in their usual ineffectual political positioning, action is required. Not action by one nation or action only by U.N. charted members but that of an International community as a whole. Neither carpet bombing or precision bombing required, a ground-force to take into custody those responsible for killing over 300 unarmed civilians including life’s most precious gift, children.